As someone who feels not overly confident in even defining political poetry, I will attempt to explain how I see it functioning in society. We had a really interesting discussion on Monday about female poets and their underlying motives that are woven into their poems, and how poetry has really lost its vitality in our world today. I believe the two intersect and are dependent on each other in a way. The poetic form in general is meant to be interpretive. If you take a poetry class today you are instructed to write short statements, aka “don’t be prosey” but somehow convey a similar message. What an ideal channel for a group of persecuted individuals. I see poetry as a ‘safer’ form for women. Now, I’m not sure if that is even true, but it is interesting how many women wrote under a pseudonym or anonymously just so first, they could get published and secondly, hopefully without harassment. Since poetry is designed to be encrypted in a way, it might be the ideal avenue for political statements.
Along with the form of poetry, the brevity of it is also important to consider. If there is a political issue, a female could write a poem and have it circulate much quicker than a novel. Also, more eyes were able to view it at one time since it was in a condensed form. Now, E.B.B. is a bit different in my opinion. I had a difficult time decoding her political agenda in many of her poems, some of which are quite long. I see Browning as being a revolutionary in a way; desiring to liberate the female, the individual, and whomever was persecuted at the time. She liberates slaves, indentured servants, wives, and even children. The one poem that stood out to me in the Victorian Women Poets Anthology was “The Cry of the Children.” This poem is highly-political, the “weeping” children that worked in factories, unable to have “playtime…In the country of the free” (47). Her description made me feel sick and angry, which I’m sure is her intent. “They look up with their pale and sunken faces” and are so “weary” they “cannot run or leap;” (48-49).
I would need to do more research on Browning to see “how” these things were known to her in such detail. Like in “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” and her description of a slave’s life. She writes from the actual voice of a slave, “I am black, I am black!” she writes as a repeated line.
To understand political poetry, one must have a sense of the time period in terms of history, culture and political temperature at the time.
Along with the form of poetry, the brevity of it is also important to consider. If there is a political issue, a female could write a poem and have it circulate much quicker than a novel. Also, more eyes were able to view it at one time since it was in a condensed form. Now, E.B.B. is a bit different in my opinion. I had a difficult time decoding her political agenda in many of her poems, some of which are quite long. I see Browning as being a revolutionary in a way; desiring to liberate the female, the individual, and whomever was persecuted at the time. She liberates slaves, indentured servants, wives, and even children. The one poem that stood out to me in the Victorian Women Poets Anthology was “The Cry of the Children.” This poem is highly-political, the “weeping” children that worked in factories, unable to have “playtime…In the country of the free” (47). Her description made me feel sick and angry, which I’m sure is her intent. “They look up with their pale and sunken faces” and are so “weary” they “cannot run or leap;” (48-49).
I would need to do more research on Browning to see “how” these things were known to her in such detail. Like in “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” and her description of a slave’s life. She writes from the actual voice of a slave, “I am black, I am black!” she writes as a repeated line.
To understand political poetry, one must have a sense of the time period in terms of history, culture and political temperature at the time.